Diffuser-Gate Clarification....EVERYONE READ!

[Fitch]

Ok, I'm sick of hearing this.........Brawn, Williams, and Toyota are NOT going to be disqualified......Let me say it again, Brawn GP have WON the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix.....

The nature of the protest is such, that the results will stand no matter what the ruiling, if they are deemed illegal then the loophole will be closed and that will be it...........

[Captain Hammer]

Wrong. While it is UNLIKELY that the results will be altered, TECHNICALLY it is possible for the FIA to disqualify those three teams.

[CarlosFerreira]

Ok, I'm sick of hearing this.........Brawn, Williams, and Toyota are NOT going to be disqualified......Let me say it again, Brawn GP have WON the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix.....

The nature of the protest is such, that the results will stand no matter what the ruiling, if they are deemed illegal then the loophole will be closed and that will be it...........

I think you're right - that's what the BBC and the Autosport people said as well. The cars were deemed legal, so ran the race legally. If they had been found illegal, they could have run under protest and, if found illegal by the WMSC, they would be stripped of points. What might happen if the WMSC finds them illegal is that they'll have to change their cars or face disqualification from then on.

[Rodrigo]

Well, I'm sure the're safe. After all, it's Brawn, Williams and Toyota, not McLaren

[IVY440]

How do we know the FIA? It's always the same, the teams run legally until the appeal. I predict the diffuser will be declared legal, but the rules will most likely change so they can't be used anymore.
In the past it's always been so, and now Ferrari and McLaren have many troubles keeping up, I guess it will be the same again.

[StoneColdSpider]

i can see them saying they are banned from... NOW....
but all the results will stand from the past 2 GPs

[Ross Prawn]

I think its highly unlikely that the diffuser cars will be banned for the first two GP's. Leaving aside the legalities, this would be an admission by the FIA that its stewards and technical advisers have been asleep for the last three months. And as Jamie and Enoch have beautifully illustrated in the podcasts, it would make a complete bollocks of the world championship. And it would probably sink Brawn GP, which is F1's only good story at the moment.

Its as likely as Max putting on a giant chicken costume and wandering through the streets of Paris. (Although to be fair, given the events of the last year, this cannot be totally ruled out.)

I reckon they'll refer this to some technical working group, with a view to banning it by mid season.

They'll probably just fine McLaren. Not for any particular reason, but it will make Max happy.

[LionZoo]

I could just see the rules being changed at the end of the year. Banning them then makes it much simpler.

Of course they could also change the rules in the context of improving safety in the middle of the season. While that'll be a harder sell diffusers were chopped in the middle of the season in 1994. Not quite comparable situations, but they could apply a similar ruling.

[CarlosFerreira]

I could just see the rules being changed at the end of the year. Banning them then makes it much simpler.

Yeah, I agree that's probably the safest bet.

[TomWazzleshaw]

The FIA will probably ban them at the end of the year just for the sake of the viewers.

But should the FIA ban them now they would automatically win the ROTY awrad since they ignored the issue completely during the off season and to ban them now would probably leave a very sour taste in the mouth.
Anyone remember the Renault Diffuser issue from 06? Hockenhiem Race Stweards deemed it legel but the FIA didn't